He's a pretty good hitter too. Much improved last year from the year before, with a 3.65 ERA. His K/BB ratio was not terrific, at 7.1:4.4.
He does not walk very many, with only 44 walks in 106 innings.
Fastball goes from 88-94 MPH. Terrific change-up potential.

How does Lester project as a MLB'er? Anyone to compare to?

I know that Lester was talked about as the possible PTBNL in the Williamson trade, and some in Sox circles were actually disappointed that it turned out to be Pelland.

What's wrong with Lester?

looks much comparable to Fossum if you ask me...

Lester>>>Fossum

Lester has

• 3 pitches (Fastball, Changeup, Curve)
• meat on his bones
• loads of potential

He projects to a Mark Mulder type pitcher (not saying he'll be that good, just that type of pitcher)

certainly the build is different, but fossum has those 3 pitches also. but, Lester is definately better built.

I'll look for him in Portland soon - SOunds interesting

Jon Lester was ranked as the 48th best prospect in baseball by Bryan Smith of Wait Til Next Year. Bryan Smith picked Lester as his "breakout" minor leaguer for 2005. Last year Bryan picked Jeff Francis (a picked that was head on), Bryan knows his mL'ers.

great find i am amazed that he would have been the key to use getting Rj and stuned that theo thinks so highly of him that he would not give him up for the best pitch on the market.

Here's an interesting article from the Eagle Tribune published on Feb. 12, which I found via a link on soxprospects.com. Lester speaks favorably of working with pitching coach Al Nipper - and how the velocity on his fastball went from 88-92 in HS to 92-94 (occasionally getting up to 96) now with Nippers help.

I'm gonna try to get these articles up here in a second, I've found quite a few on him and I'm trying to find them again.

Here's what Soxprospects.com said about him:





Here's recent article from the Eagle Tribune on Lester:

Lefty Lester's Stock on the Rise

Here's the RSN Interview done by Cambridge from August:

RSN Interview

And here's an article from Maine Today, which brefiely mentions him. Even though it only briefly mentions Lester, it's a good article anyway about Sox pitching prospects:

Making A Ptich to Go Up

Lester was ranked 48 on the MLBs Top 100 Prospects by WTNY (Wait Till Next Year). Interesting to see Francis like comparisons in here:

Well I think I finally figured out how to use the code.

Some of these numbers look good and some don't look so good. He gave up 2 HR in High-A Ball, and he gave up two tonight. However, there was a very strong wind tonight blowing out, so it should be interesting to see how he does next week. The 7 Ks in 4 innings are great. Anytime you have a K/9 over 14, I'd say you did something right.

Lester had a very similiar start to his first one.

4 IP
7 H
3R (3ER)
6Ks
0BB

Lester was on a strict 85 pitch pitch count. He racked up some pitches early but pitched pretty well in his 3rd and 4th inning. Once again, those 6 Ks in 4 innings are impressive.

I had to look all around the internet to find these stats. Baseball America and Minorleaguebaseball.com refuses to believe that this game ever existed.

Lester recieved the win, improving Portland to 11-1.

Name IP H R ER BB SO HR
J Lester (W,1-0) 5 2 1 1 3 6 0

Probably Jon's best start. The 3 walks are a little discouraging, but he had one BB in his last 2 outings combined Once again, a good K/9.

Here are his updated stats:


IP- 13
ERA- 4.85
ER- 7
HR- 2
K- 19
OBA- .280 (This needs to come down)
BB- 4
K/9- 13.1

Some of his stats like K/9 stick out at you, but ERA and OBA are lacking.

Tough start by Lester, all though he didn't pitch as poorly as the stats indicate:

Lester -- 6 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR

All 5 ERs came in the first inning. After that, he pitched pretty well. An ambiguous start from Lester.

Lester: 7.0IP 4H 1R 1ER 2BB 4K

A very good start for Lester.

Just a little prediction; this is the start where Lester really turns it around.

So far, my prediction is coming true, a very good start for Lester.

IP: 6.2
K: 8
BB: 1
Hits: 5
ER: 1

He had a shutout going into the 7th before giving up a run. Without a doubt, his best overall start.

J.Lester (L,1-1) 5.2 Innings 6 Hits 2 Runs 2 ER 2 BB 3 Ks 0 3.76 ERA (season)

Does anybody know where I can find stats from previous starts? I missed Lester's last start due to a party and Roofer hasn't been updating the ML threads.

05.20.05 vs. Bowie Baysox

Thanks Roofer.

video of Lester

http://video.necn.com/global/video/popup/p...eAdTag=homepage

Thanks for the video Fenway.

Here's his start from 5/29:

Lester: 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 1 HR

The two ER came on a walk followed by a HR. Other than that, he was pretty dominant today.

Actually, I should have looked at the video before I posted. The video you posted is a video about a Massachusetts rape suspect. Maybe Lester is the rape suspect, but I doubt it.

I missed his last start from 6/3:

6/3: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 0 HR.

Another good start by Lester.

6.0 IP, 5 Hits, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 Ks, 0 HR.

How dominant has Lester been? I took this from a poster from soxprospects.com, but it's really interesting:

6/8 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 0 HR
6/3: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 0 HR.
5/29: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 1 HR.
5/20: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, 0 HR.
5/15: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 0 HR.
5/8: 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 0 HR.
5/2: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 0 HR.

Over this stretch, 44.2 IP, 32 H, 8 ER, 14 BB, 40 K, 1 HR.

1.62 ERA, 2.8 K/BB ratio (could be higher if not for some bad starts), .20 HR/9, 8.1 K/9.

Simply dominant for the second youngest pitcher in the EL.

A very good start for Lester:

6IP 3H 1R 0ER 3BB 10K

All three walks came in the fifth and sixth inning. Most of his Ks were swinging Ks.

When does everyone think he will be brought up to the bigs? Obviously the September callups is an option but I mean perminently. I can't wait to have him in the rotation.

Imagine next year he will at least start the year in Pawtucket and possibly move to Boston at the end of 2006 and possibly the rotation in 2007. A lot of the contracts end in 2007 so I imagine if they continue to progress Lester and Papelbon will be moved into the rotation in 2007 and Sanchez possibly at the end of '07 and then maybe start in '08.

Its highly doubtful all three will make it to the majors, or at least will do so at a high enough level to play for the Sox. Of the three, only Sanchez has true "ace" caliber stuff, with most projections for Lester and Papelbon being likely 3-5 starters, possible #2 upside. Don't count on any, let alone all three, being in the rotation, it's just better to be happily surprised than to watch yet another "can't miss" prospect crash.

I completely agree, but it's too hard to project which one will not make it to the majors, so I just three out a best case scenario.

I think the Sox would be content if one of the three made it.
They would be pleasantly suprised if two made it.
And they would probably be estatic if all three make it.

Another great start for Lester.

Lester-(ND) 7 IP 2 H 0 R 2 BB 10 K

He had two pickoffs to go with it.

Season Stats:

W-L: 5-2
IP: 84.1
ERA: 2.27
K: 89
BB: 33
HR: 5

Possibly Jon's best start of the season. Maybe he's trying to get up with the other Jon in triple-A.

W(6-2), 7 IP 5 H 0 R 0 BB 12 K

Thanks for the update SoxFan24. Been a fan of Lester for a while, so let's hope his recent success doesn't push him into the forefront of the trade market. Glad to see the success he's having though, if anyone knows any further info on him (i.e. how his breaking pitches are coming along, what his velocity is like, etc) it would be much appreciated. I don't get up to Portland as often as I should.....

Taking out 3 of his first 4 starts, which were his worst of the year, his stats look very good.

Since then, 77 IP, 15 ER, 1.75 ERA.

Jon Lester is unhittable right now.

Tonight against New Hampshire: 7 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 BB, 13 Ks.

Boxscore

His previous start against Trenton: 7 IP, 5 hits, 0 runs, 0 BBs, 12 Ks.

Boxscore

For those who don't like to add, that's 14 straight scoreless innings with 25 Ks.

He's the second-youngest starting pitcher in the Eastern League (AA).

Oh my.

Lester Tracker

You posted in the wrong one. This is last years.

I've never had so much fun scouring the minor league box scores as I have with Lester, Papelbon, Hanley, Dustin, and Sanchez.

I think we should start taking bets on Lester's ETA. Most people said mid-late 2007 at the start of this year-- now I'm not so sure. Next year? Hell, THIS year?

I'd go with next year, but what holes will their be in the rotation next season? He's finally put together what we've been hoping for all along. If he gets to Pawtucket this year and does well, I could see him being on the staff. There's a good chance he could be up in Pawtucket to start the year next year, but I see him being a SCU, then coming back to the club sometime next year. Papelbon will probably stick with the club first.

Edit - Dammit...can we post this in the proper thread? Lock this one? Anyone? Bueller?

I posted this in the Minor League News Links this morning, but I'll repost it here.

This was in this morning's Portland Press Herald:

John Thomas - Lester is no throw-in


Really good article.

Lester threw an absolute gem last night. Per Rotoworld:



Link

BA has him listed as getting only 13 Ks compared to Roto World saying he has 14.

Portland Press Herald story here:

Sox Minor League News Links, Tues. July 12, 2005

Right, but remember what Bill James said about breaking in minor league pitchers in the 'pen their first year? I think Lester could replace John Halama pretty, um, easily.

Edit: Of course on one hand, you want to make sure he has plenty of experience at Pawtucket vs. the AAAA'ers before you start his arby clock. But I'm sure once he shows any kind of success at the big league level he will be signed to a cost effective long-term deal (like Beane did with Hudson, Zito, Mulder) so as to avoid the arbitration situation.

I'm fine with him taking a bullpen spot if he gets moved up and does well against AAA/AAAA talent. And since Cedeno has sucked the bone, it doesn't look like he'll be up there.

And while I know it's so cool and fun to be all "Well, I doubt that any of these guys will be MLB players", there's a solid chance that we could see 4 or 5 of the current minor league players with the big club next year. Lester, Papelbon, and Delcarmen could all be in that bullpen. I'd actually love to see that.

I'm with you on this one. I love homegrown players, and the chance that even one of these players will make it to the big leagues next year is beyond exciting. It's about damn time, let me say.

Trust me Love Below/gerky, I am on your side. I'm a homegrown extremist. I would love to see the majority of the roster homegrown by 2008. I too am sick of the "prospects never amount to anything" thinking prevalent among Sox "fans." It is analagous to any "Sox are cursed / never win anything" thinking that existed pre-2004. Just because things have worked out a certain way in the past, does not mean they will continue to work out that way. This is not the kind of thinking Theo and his staff employ, and I am excited that they are willing to give these prospects a chance to make it all the way wearing the Red Sox uniform. If you are comparing apples to apples, okay, but when you start equating Papelbon and Lester to Brian Rose and Nate Minchey, then that's apples to oranges. Different players, different times, different (hopefully) outcomes.

Still, I do not think it is the right formula to bring 5-8 rookies in April 2006, right out of the gate as some have specualted is "possible." There is no reason for this team not to contend each and every year for the World Series title. A big part of that is a stronger bullpen, and a big part of a stronger bullpen is being able to add young studs from within your system rather than continually having to scrounge for the Sauerbecks, Leskanics, and Bottalicos of the world every season. But I think that until one of these young guns steps up and performs right out of the gate with some brass ones (hopefully Pap or even Hansen gets it done) then there is still going to be this Matt White/Cla Meredith stigma that rookie pitchers can't handle the "pressure" and "scrutiny" of debuting at Fenway Park. Of course this is all as intangible as "clubhouse presence" or "the Curse" but the fact of the matter is if you bring Manny Delcarmen into a big spot in 2006 and he implodes, you'd rather be able to hand the ball over to a Mike Timlin to stop the bleeding than Cla Meredith or Craig Hansen. Until someone proves otherwise.

I would like to see Pap and Dinardo take the Halama/Embree roles with the big club out of the gate next year. I would like to see Timlin sign a Wakefield contract in the offseason, bring back Myers for a year, and Foulke will be here, maybe Chad Bradford and another vet. Then you've got Cla Meredith as insurance at Pawtucket, and I would also like to see Hansen get some seasoning, I don't care what Gammons says. He could just as easily start out as Ryan Wagner as he could be Huston Street. Delcarmen could step in for an injury next summer or as a September call-up along with Lester. Papelbon enters the rotation in 2007 for good, Lester becomes the long man. Sanchez gets a taste in 2007 and your 2008 rotation leads off with Anibal Sanchez, Papelbon, and Jon Lester, two veterans (maybe even Wake!) and then for the pen you've got Hansen, Meredith, Delcarmen as a base., and you'll have plenty more prospects on the way from the Million Dollar Player Development Machine.

Theo, is that you? Heh. Great post, NN. I like how you've have laid things out. I hope not all of it is just a crazy pipe dream. I'd imagine much of Theo's plan for the future is like yours. Stabilize a core group of veterans, bring up a couple of rookies every year and continue to develop for the future and not trade it away. At this rate, in the next five years or so, the Sox will have one of the best farm systems in the majors.

Also, don't forget about Alvarez in your master plan. He could turn into a good back-of-the-rotation guy or long reliever. At this point, I think I'd rather him over Halama.